Petition slams new French ministry

Nearly 200 professors, artists and others from universities
around the world have signed a petition protesting at France's new
Ministry of Immigration and National Identity.

They are demanding the ministry's name - which they say sends a
signal immigration is a "problem" - be changed and its extensive
powers cut.

The petition, published in the left-wing daily Liberation, was
signed by some of France's most illustrious historians as well as
professors from the University of Sydney, Princeton and Harvard in
the US, Cambridge in Britain and the University of Chuo in Tokyo,
Japan.

President Nicolas Sarkozy announced during his campaign for the
presidency that, if elected, he would create a ministry to oversee
both immigration and national identity, drawing a storm of
criticism.

National identity became a theme of the campaign as Sarkozy
sought - successfully - to woo far-right voters.

However, the idea of a ministry linking immigration with
national identity sparked protest, notably from Simone Veil, a much
respected former health minister who lost family members during the
Holocaust and who backed Sarkozy's candidacy.

When the ministry was created after Sarkozy took office last
month, eight historians and others quickly resigned their posts as
advisers at an immigration museum that has yet to open its
doors.

To link immigration and the concept of national identity "is to
inscribe immigration as a problem for France and the French in
their very being," the petition said.

It notes the ministry holds policing powers over illegal
immigrants while at the same time having the job of promoting
national identity.

And it holds extensive powers in areas overlapping the
responsibilities of other ministries.

"This confusion of roles and functions is inadmissable and
worrisome," the petition reads.

"We energetically protest the name and powers conferred on this
ministry," it said, "and solemnly ask the president of the republic
to make choices more in conformity with the democratic traditions"
of France.

The Ministry of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and
Co-development - its full name - is headed by Brice Hortefeux, a
long-time ally of Sarkozy who, unlike other ministers, has kept a
low profile since taking up his post.

Among those signing the petition were French scholars like
historian Jacques Le Goff and professors on several continents.

1182019369876-smh.com.auhttp://smh.com.au/news/WORLD/Petition-slams-new-French-ministry/2007/06/22/1182019369876.htmlsmh.com.auAAP2007-06-22Petition slams new French ministryBreakingNewsWORLDPremium-BreakingWorld